1. Define the following as used in the article:

• immunity
• immune
• immune memory
• immunology
• antibodies
• robust
• robust immunity
• memory B cells

2. a) What did a new study show about the immunity in patients who recovered from Covid-19?
b) Why is this such good news?

3. What concern did scientists/doctors have about Covid-19’s immune memory?

4. What two findings did the study reveal, according to immunology researcher Shane Crotty?

5. a) What encouraging results did researchers find regarding these memory B cells?
b) What benefit does this indicate?

6. Mr. Crotty noted, “Immunity varies from person to person, and uncommon individuals with weak immune memory still may be susceptible to reinfection.”
a) How do you think these people could be helped?
b) In your view, despite the exception for a small number of people, how encouraging are the results of this study?

CHALLENGE:

Read the longer Business Insider article on this study -- see “Background” below.

Almost all stories we see about Covid are negative: details about the people who die, scare stories about perfectly healthy people or young people who had no underlying conditions dying of Covid, hospitals filling up, people being treated in parking lots, the huge death toll, the need to “lock down” “shut down” and stay home - but very little about the work being done to actually understand what’s really going on.

Here is a report about researchers who know much more.

Do your own research to find out - what kind of therapeutics are available and how effective are these treatments?  (--Be aware of the source of the information you find.)  What is the true rate of recovery (what percent of people who get Covid die)? What percent have to go to the hospital? What percent wind up in ICU? What have doctors learned about best practices for treating Covid patients that they did not know in the beginning (the use of ventilators Democratic governors in NY and California were screaming about in April)?

What do we know about the Chinese Communist Party’s involvement/concealment of this virus that originated in WuHan, China - possibly in a government lab? What should the world and world media be investigating?

Many people have been living in fear and feel despair. But take heart! Two vaccines have been approved and a few more potentially.  For those who don’t want a vaccine, there are therapeutics - and 99.997% of people under the age of 19 who contract Covid recover. - 99.5% of people under 69 recover.